A Shining Star
by Arwen Delacour
Summary: When Estelle Aksana goes off to Hogwarts, she hates both Draco and Harry. But things start to change as time wears on...
1. Prolouge

Prologue  
  
Russia: Moscow  
  
"What does she look like?"  
  
The first words out of her husband's mouth when her first, and last, baby had been born were not very comforting.  
  
"Is she like me or you? Or something else entirely? Can that happen?"  
  
Chanel Voronsky Aksana didn't look at the brutish looking man she called her partner for life. How much more of his whining could she take? Not much more. 'Patience, patience," she reminded herself. Only she had never been very patient, especially with her husband.  
  
"If it's too ugly, what will we do? Not keep it, right? I mean, you can't be too attached to it already, can you?"  
  
Chanel wanted to scream that yes, she could be that attached to her firstborn baby girl, and that she was, as a matter of fact. But she didn't. Instead, she leaned over to the night table stand and grabbed a long, slender looking stick: her wand. She hid it near her bed covers while her husband, Alexei, droned on.  
  
"Now Chanel, if she has too friendly a look on her, we could always fix that, no need to worry. Not that I'm implying that you are worried or anything, its just that you're so quiet. What are you going to name her? Can I help? I have lots of good, Russian names in my head, you know."  
  
'Of course you do," thought Chanel. "Only Russian names, I'd bet. Or, if you're feeling really original, you'd change them a bit and call them English. How amazing" Chanel had no intention of letting Alexei help name her daughter. She already had a name picked out of her anyways.  
  
".Good names, like Anna, Anika, Elena, and Jelena, and others! Of course, if you wanted, I could help you name her with an English name. Like, uhhh...Anne, or Erin, or Mary, or Barbra, or Suzan, or."  
  
Chanel gripped her wand a bit tighter. Her jaw was clenched and her eyes set. 'What horrid, common names he thinks of! No originality, whatsoever!"  
  
"Is something bothering you, pumpkin? Because I could always help you-"  
  
But Chanel cut him off by standing up, wooden stick in hand, her blue eyes blazing. "Yes," she said with a terrible calmness in her voice. "Yes, I do believe you could help me. First off, by shutting up. Next: don't ever, ever, ever call me pumpkin. I'm not a play thing for you- I will never be so. Also: no, you will have no say in the naming of this child, or in what happens to her."  
  
Alexei wasn't about to take that. He many not have been as clever as his wife, but his intelligence was a bit greater than a rock. The last sentence seemed to snap him out of his stupid stupor that he was normally in. "What did you say? Are you telling me to shut up? Do you dare to tell me what to call you? I will call you whatever I feel like, and you will jump to obey me! I could have killed you anytime! You are only alive today thanks to the goodness in my heart! And furthermore, only I will have a say in this kid's life- you are out of it!" With this statement, Alexei reached into the pocket of his dark black robe and pulled out a black wand. His was shorter and thicker than his wife's. He pointed it at his wife and started to shout.  
  
"Avada Kadavara!"  
  
Too late. Alexei was dead before he could even utter a word. Chanel kicked her former husband out of the way. "No imagination. None at all. That's why you were always behind me." With that, she disappeared from the room. 


	2. The Golden Mirror

Chapter One  
  
It was a beautiful day outside. An undeniably delicious day. The sun was exceptionally bright, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, which was very unusual in London. It was a wonderful day, but also an odd day: there were meteor showers, shooting stars, and owls flying around in day time. Weird people lined the streets, whispering in groups, dressed in bright coloured robes. The news stations were beyond themselves to explain any of it. That would make sense though, for they had no clue that today was the day that Harry Potter had survived an attack by Lord Voldemort, causing the spell to rebound back on Voldemort himself. All the witches and wizards were celebrating, for they were free, finally free! The little Potter boy had faced the wrath of the most powerful dark wizard of all time, and would live to tell about it! That is, as soon as he could talk. At the moment, he was only one year old.  
  
At St. Anne's Foster Centre, the atmosphere was as excited as it was normally around Christmas Eve. Only, it was the middle of the summer, and no one was getting any presents. But the disappearance of the dark lord was more than enough to celebrate. The children ran around, shouting and playing happily. For once, the caretakers did not seem to mind, for they were thinking about the freedom that they finally had, after years of captivity. They were all talking about the poor Potter child, toasting him with their drinks. The festivity was contagious, and the children ran outside to shout and play some more. All the children were running and having fun, their worries and troubles forgotten for now.  
  
All the children but one. One child was not celebrating; one child was sitting in her room staring out the window, sadly. The girl was only around three or four, even though she looked much older than she really was. She had vibrant blue-green eyes that sparkled like the ocean, and a cascade of platinum-blonde hair. Her skin was fair white, her lips a soft red. She was an exceptionally tall girl, but not too skinny like most girls her age and height. She was by far one of the most beautiful girls in St. Anne's. Rumors were circulating in the caretakers' lounges that she was part veela, but, since her parents were dead and the girl had apparently no idea what they looked like, there was no proof in the rumours. In those intense eyes was something unexpected on such an exciting, happy day: tears. Not of joy, but of disappointment. The pretty girl looked at a golden mirror hanging in her otherwise dingy room. "Why? Why did this happen," she asked the mirror. "Why did a little one year old boy have to kill Lord Voldemort?"  
The mirror sighed and thought for a moment. "Estelle," it said softly. "Estelle, my daughter. 'Why' is not the right question here. It is how a little one year old boy killed Voldemort that we should ask. And as for either of those questions, they are beyond my ability to answer. But do not cry. Instead celebrate, because for now the dark lord is gone!"  
Estelle wiped the tears from her eyes. 'No crying, none at all, what so ever.' She remembered her mother drilling that phrase into her, shortly before her own death. And her mother did not cry at her death. Stella would not cry at Voldemort's. Instead, she turned towards the window again, and said quietly to the mirror, "My only regret today is that I did not get a chance to hurt Voldemort first, hurt him before he died. I did not avenge my mother's death."  
And for once the outspoken mirror did not respond. 


	3. A Zoo Exursion

Chapter Two  
  
Several Years later. London, England.  
  
RIIIIINNNNGGGGGG!!!!  
  
Estelle stumbled out of bed. She put out her hand to reach for her wand, but in the process she only succeeded in pushing it under the bed. Too lazy to bend down and search for it at such an early hour of the morning (eight a.m.), she instead brought her fist down on the ringing annoyance: a muggle alarm clock. It broke under the force, but it hurt Stella's hand in the process. "Bloody thing! Curse you!" She tripped her way over to the bathroom. She heard pounding on her door, and a voice yelled,  
"Stella! If that thing goes off one more time I'm going to come in personally and blast it!"  
Estelle grinned to herself. Her good friend Nicole had the room next to hers. The walls at St. Anne's were thin and so every morning Stella's alarm clock went off, Nikki would screech about blowing it up. Stella knew that Nikki would never do that: she couldn't. Nikki had very minimal magical powers, but they were enough to put in her into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Nikki was already in her third year there, and had many friends. Nikki always pestered Estelle about Hogwarts: she thought that since Stella was already twelve years old and turning thirteen sometime soon, she should be in at least second year, if not in third with her. But Stella never received an owl from Hogwarts, so she had never been to a wizarding school.  
There was another knock on the door, but this time it was more of a professional rapping sound.  
"Missus Estelle! Please! Get out of bed and your room! You need to eat before you can go on the excursion!"  
Stella snorted. The "excursion" she was about to go on was only a trip to the muggle zoo. She rolled her eyes at the thought. She didn't volunteer to go; she was put on the list forcibly. The caretakers were worried that she didn't get out enough. She knew that they were also worried because she hadn't been accepted into Hogwarts, but they tried to keep that secret from her.  
"All right, all right! I'm coming," she shouted towards the door. "Keep your shirt on."  
There was a dignified "humph" from behind the door and a prim voice said, "I can assure you, Ms. Estelle, that my shirt is quite on, buttoned and tucked in! Very much unlike your own!"  
Stella laughed aloud. "Okay, I'll put on a muggle shirt that covers my stomach area!" Laughing, she changed and then ran into the hall.  
"Hey! Babe! Over here!"  
Stella's head turned towards the familiar sound. Nikki was waving to her with a bunch of her friends: Carlee, Aurra, Cyril, and Naomi. "I'm coming, I'm coming," she grumbled. Once over on their side of the hall, they barraged her with questions. Naomi shouted, "I didn't know that you were going to the zoo! If I had known, I would have signed up! Why didn't you tell us?" Before Estelle had a chance to answer, Carlee interrupted. "Is some really cute guy going that we don't know about? Or are you planning on meeting someone at the zoo, maybe a muggle?" Estelle held back a gag. Carlee was obsessed with cute guys. "Carlee, no one cute is going, besides, you would know if there was. And of course I'm not meeting anyone! Do you think I would do that?" Carlee giggled. "Well, too bad you don't! It would be more interesting if you did." The other girls nodded in agreement. "But I don't, so you'll have to be content with boring ol' me." Nikki laughed good-humouredly. "Now, now. Don't get catty. We were just teasing you." She winked at the other girls while Stella scowled. "But why didn't you tell us that you were going on the zoo excursion? We are all going to St. Mungo's to visit Aurra's parents. You knew about that, didn't you?" Stella, as a matter of fact, did know about the trip to St. Mungo's magical hospital. She hated going there, and hated visiting Aurra's insane parents even more. Aurra's parents were both cursed by their oldest son, Sean, when he was only seventeen. He made them go completely insane, but they still recognised Aurra. Only, they thought that she and her friends were either nurses or singers in an on-going opera. Too bad Aurra's father had always hated the opera. He tried to curse them with whatever stick shaped thing he possessed, but since he didn't have a wand, the words did nothing other than scare the living daylights out of the girls. But, fortunately for Stella, she wouldn't have been able to go even if she wanted to. "Sorry girls," she said in what she hoped was a nonchalant, kind of sad way. "The caretakers think that I don't get out enough and spend enough time with other kids, so they signed me up for the zoo trip anyways. I told them that I had other plans, but they didn't care. I'll go to St. Mungo's next time, I promise." She made a mental note to have something else, anything else planned during the time of the next trip. "But," said Cyril, who also disliked going to St. Mungo's. "Why didn't you tell us about your going on the zoo trip earlier? That way we could have gone with you!" Cyril looked like she would do anything to get out of visiting, or at least get Estelle on the bad side of all the other girls. Stella smiled. "I didn't want to interrupt your plans. I know how much you all love going to St. Mungo's, after all. I didn't want you guys to think that you had to come with me. Have fun!" She started to walk away towards the kitchens when Nikki ran up and grabbed her arm. In a quiet voice, Nikki said, "Stelle. Are you okay? I mean, I understand that you hate St. Mungo's, everyone does, even Aurra! But why didn't you tell us about the zoo thing? Are you still angry at us when we teased you about Hogwarts?" "Nikki! I'm fine! I already told you about the zoo trip, and I was telling the truth! Just ask Mrs. Knowles, if you want. She's the one that told me that I had to come, no matter what. Sorry." Stella deliberately left out that fact that she was irritated at them for teasing her. She would never ever mention that to Nikki, or anyone. It was just too personal. Nikki looked once more at her friend's face, and then she smiled. "Okay. Just checking. Have fun at the zoo! You know how much fun we'll have at St. Mungo's." She groaned. "Bye Nikki! Talk to you later!" Estelle sped off towards the hall, knowing that she had just blown her chance to eat anything before going on the "excursion". She would just have to grab something at the zoo. She had just entered the great hall when the bus started loading for the zoo. "And just when I was about to send someone to drag you here, you show up." Stella spun around saw who had spoken. It was Mrs. Knowles, the head caretaker other than the two owners: Mr. and Mrs. Crumplebottom. But no one ever saw the Crumplebottoms, other than on holidays. Mrs. Knowles was an intimidating looking woman in her early forties. She had thin brown hair, which was slicked back into a tight bun. Her face was heavily powdered white, her eyebrows penciled arches, and her lips a bright metallic pink. All the girls avoided wearing heavy powder and any metallic lip colours because of her. She was also quite tall, thanks to a pair of very high heels. "Mrs. Knowles! Of course I was coming! I wouldn't miss this trip for the world!" Mrs. Knowles scowled. "Your sarcasm is unbecoming for a young lady. Now get in line for the bus. I want to make sure that you board it." "Mrs. Knowles, you wound me deeply. You make it sound like I might try and escape from you all in the hustle and bustle of boarding the bus! Now why would I want to do that?" Instead of answering, Mrs. Knowles frowned and dragged Estelle over to the back of the line. "Don't you dare move out of this line, or else you'll wish you'd never been born." As soon as Mrs. Knowles was out of earshot, Stella mumbled, "Too late for that one: I already do." The line started moving as kids of all ages began boarding a muggle bus. She was the last to board. "Sit down young lady," barked the old witch driving the bus. "Find a seat or just sit on the ground in the back. Now." "I'm going, I'm going." Stella had no clue why all the St. Anne's caretakers had to hate her so much, but now a ministry witch did too. Maybe she had "troublemaker" written all over her face. "Okay kiddies, sit back and enjoy the scenic ride to the muggle zoo!" All the kids started talking in high, loud, excited voices. It was enough to make anyone's head hurt, but Stella was more than used to it. She found a seat in the far back, and sat back in it. It was broken, and had almost no stuffing, but it was better than sitting on the ground. At least she hoped it was. Looking out the window for hours can make even the most scenic drive dull, but the road to the zoo wasn't exactly what Stella would call "scenic". Her thoughts were drifting, and so was her attention. She heard the kids in front of her talking about going to Hogwarts hopefully in a year or two, depending on their ages. Hogwarts. Estelle had many thoughts about Hogwarts, but recently they had all been negative. "Why haven't I had an acceptance letter yet," she asked out loud. "Why can't I be in Hogwarts? I'm already twelve, maybe even thirteen! I should be in some form of magic school!" But this time there was no magical mirror to respond to her questions with wisdom and kindness. Instead, there was only her own brain, which didn't have the answers to the harder questions in life. Ever since she had heard about Hogwarts she had wanted to go there. There was no expressing her sadness when she turned eleven and no letter appeared. The caretakers told her that she may still be ten, since they didn't actually know her real age. But Stella knew that that excuse wouldn't last more than a year or two. Now she was twelve, turning thirteen, and still, no letters had come. She had almost given up hope of ever going to school there. "This would be the year that Harry Potter would be going to Hogwarts," she thought to herself. She had made it a habit to follow the news surrounding him, ever since she was able to read. She even researched his family line, trying to find out clues as to how he was able to defeat the greatest wizard of all time. Nothing, of course, showed up. He looked remarkably like his father, who was extremely clever and good at transfiguration. His eyes were his mother's, though, and she was good at charms. Nothing about extraordinary powers in the Dark Arts, or in defense against the Dark Arts. Just plain, ordinary wizards and witches, and muggles on Lily Potter's side. The wizard in front of her spoke. "I hear that Harry Potter is old enough to be in Hogwarts almost! I'll be there next year! Maybe we'll become good friends, and I'll be famous too!" The young-looking witch next to him laughed. She sounded remarkably like a hyena. "As if Harry Potter would like any of us! We're too young for him, probably. And he's too famous. He'll have rich, powerful, famous friends. Not poor orphans like us." Stella thought about that. From what she had read about Harry Potter, he didn't sound like he would turn out to be too bad of a kid. His parents seemed nice enough. But then again, he wouldn't be living with them. He would be with muggles. She looked out the window again, thinking about her own parents. She had never known her father, considering that as soon as she was born, her mother killed him. From what her mother said about him, he sounded like a dud anyways. She and her mother, Chanel Aksana, looked the same. She remembered that. Her mother had been beautiful, cunning, and powerful. Not a good combination. Her father, Alexei, had been stupid, but strong. He had enough power to be a danger, but no where near the power Estelle's mother had possessed. Chanel could have been just like Voldemort, if she hadn't been killed by him first. He had killed her when she was only three or four, the same year that Harry Potter had survived. Stella had to know how a little baby boy had defeated the wizard that had killed her powerful mother. The thought had been haunting her since she had come to St. Anne's.  
  
Suddenly the bus slowed and stopped. The witch driver stood up, and shouted at the kids, "Shut up, all of you! Listen up! Everyone is to stay together. Don't laugh and point at the muggles! Avoid talking to them, but still be polite. Let's go." With that, they arrived at the zoo, and took it by storm. 


End file.
